Hillsboro, TX

13 Apartments for Rent

The Wes Anderson movie Bottle Rocket is an indie favorite, and it captured the quirks to be found in ordinary people from a small town. That movie was filmed in Hillsboro, TX, which is a small town full of quirky Texans and "just folks" alike.

Hillsboro is midway between the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex and Waco, and is the gateway to the legendary and gorgeous Texas Hill Country at Lake Whitney. The city is known for many of its historic Victorian homes and when the courthouse was destroyed by an electrical fire in 1993, Hill Country native Willie Nelson was one of the largest contributors to raising money to rebuild this local treasure.

Moving to Hillsboro

Hillsboro is not the most fast paced and exciting metropolis--but the people here like it that way. No, Hillsboro is the kind of place where people work hard, go see their kids play football and dance, go to church on Sundays and then sit back and enjoy some down home country cooking. See? The simple life. People here know how to appreciate it.

Part of the simple life means that you can get a job and have a modest house, and that means that home prices in Hillsboro are pretty affordable. Whether you're looking for apartments for rent or for a rent to own house, you should be able to find some great options to choose from. Hillsboro doesn't have neighborhoods per se, since it's so small, but you can't go wrong pretty much anywhere in town.

When you want to move to Hillsboro, spend some time looking around for the right place for you. Make sure you have all the stuff on hand that landlords like to see, select previous landlords who will give you a good reference, and bring a check for those all- important deposits. You may even find pet friendly apartments, but you'll probably need more deposits for that, too.

Neighborhoods

Hillsboro is pretty small and doesn't have many traditional neighborhoods, per se, but there are still some distinct areas of town. Check out a few of them here:

Carl's Corner: This is on the outskirts of Hillsboro and there's some debate about whether it's actually a part of the city itself or not. It was actually founded by a friend of Willie Nelson's, in large part because he wanted to create place where people could drink alcohol in an otherwise dry county.

Winslow: This neighborhood is on the southwestern edge of Hillsboro and includes a large area that includes Corsicana Hwy and I-35. This location allows easy access for transportation, especially for people who frequently travel to either Fort Worth or Waco.

E Franklin / FM 286: This is in the northeast part of town and is north of Corsicana Hwy and includes the Hillsboro City Park.

City Center: This is the oldest part of the city and includes historic downtown Hillsboro. This neighborhood includes streets like S. Waco St., W. Elm St., and Houston St. and is home to attractions like the Hill County Cell Block Museum.

Life in Hillsboro

Texas is the second largest state in the country (largest in the lower 48, though), with more than 268,000 square miles. With that much room to spread out, it's not surprising that you need a car to get pretty much anywhere. The big cities in Texas have some public transportation options, but in Hillsboro, to borrow some Yankee slang, fuggedaboutit. You definitely need a car here. The good news, at least, is that you won't likely be spending much time in the car. Because Hillsboro is pretty small, commutes are short. I-35 runs through town, though, and that major highway gets pretty busy at time as people commute back and forth between Austin and Dallas / Fort Worth.

Hillsboro's claim to fame, at least according to most people who live in either Waco or Fort Worth, is that it's the home of an outlet mall that was once a major destination for people from these other cities. Since more outlet shops have opened in the Dallas area, the Prime Outlets at Hillsboro is now home to a lot of brand-name clearance stores.

Hillsboro has another claim to fame, too: Willie Nelson's music club and restaurant, called "Willie's Place," was located near here. Though Willie's Place is closed now, you may just catch a glimpse of the braided country star walking around town or sitting near you at the Lonestar Caf.

Downtown Hillsboro takes pride in its heritage, too, so it's always worth checking out the historic sites in town and imagining what life here would have been like in the old days. No matter what has changed since then, we imagine that the character of the people was just as humble and down to earth as it is today.